


Year After Impossible Year

by DefaltManifesto



Series: 30 Day Song Lyric Challenge [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hugging, Nightmares, Path of Radiance, Politics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Racial Oppression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 19:19:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12918534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: The night after discovering Izuka's experiments, Ike wakes Reyson from a nightmare.





	Year After Impossible Year

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly happier one despite the subject matter. This one is based on the following lyric from Impossible Year by Panic! At The Disco: 
> 
> "There's never air to breath/There's never in-betweens/These nightmares always hang on past the dream"
> 
> I played prettttttty loose with this lyric in comparison to the other ones so far. My bad.

Reyson wakes up with a scream in his throat but it never makes it past his lips. He can smell smoke and hear the screaming of his tribe, but it vanishes as a hand grasps his shoulder and jolts him into the real world. Ike stares down at him, a worried expression in his deep blue eyes. All at once, humiliation surges through him and he shifts up the bed and away from Ike’s touch. Ike jolts back and Reyson can tell he fears that he did something wrong.

“What are you doing here?” he asks as he turns his gas lamp on.

Ike flushes. “Sorry…Tibarn recommended I keep an eye on you so I’ve been walking by your tent every few hours. You were mumbling in your sleep…”

Count on Tibarn to keep an eye on him even when they were both asleep. Although, he supposed it wasn’t hard to guess that Reyson would find the contents of that twisted tower disturbing enough to trigger a host of nightmarish memories.

“Please, sit,” Reyson says, gesturing to the end of his bed. “I could use the company.”

Ike sighs and rubs the back of his neck as he sits down. Reyson looks him over, noticing not for the first time how weary and exhausted Ike looks. There’s something extra in his eyes this time though.

“Did it bother you too?” he asks after a moment. “Izuka’s experiments in that tower?”

Ike nods. “I can’t sleep. Every time I shut my eyes, I see what he did to all those Laguz.”

Reyson still can’t help but be shocked by the words even though now he knows that Ike isn’t a normal Beorc who sees Laguz as monsters at worst and tools for experiments at best. “It reminded me of the massacre of my tribe.”

Most people, Beorc and Laguz alike, flinch at the mention of the Serenes Massacre, but Ike just nods and looks back at him. He doesn’t carry the guilt the way Sanaki does, or the  excuses like her Senate, or the anger like Tibarn and his Hawks. Somehow, he manages to acknowledge the pain and unfairness of reality and move past it. Reyson is grateful. He’s too tired to assuage even a friend’s guilt over things that were not his fault.

“I don’t like this time of night. It reminds me of my father.” Ike looks down at his hands.

Reyson shifts closer so they’re seated next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. He knows Ike isn’t trying to outdo his tragedy – he couldn’t if he tried. It’s merely another acknowledgment of their similarities.

“Did it help? Killing the Black Knight?” Reyson asks.

“I suppose,” Ike says, frowning. “Would it help if you could kill those who killed your family?”

Reyson shakes his head. “Even if I could stomach the action, the Hawks already saw to that. Besides, if there’s anything I learned being in your company, it’s that letting that anger fester will get me nowhere good.”

“How can you believe that after seeing what we saw today?” Ike asks, looking at him.

There’s curiosity in his eyes. Reyson will never stop being surprised by this man.

“It’s even more obvious after today,” Reyson says. “These things Beorc do to us…they don’t end with a war. The Laguz could attack Daein, Crimea, and Begnion with all their might and it would only serve to awaken the darkness that sleeps in Lehran’s medallion. Even if it didn’t, the war would be a stalemate. Eventually, both sides would quit and the Beorc would continue their experiments and their slavery. The only way we can stop it is to put tyrants like Ashnard in the ground and for the rest…convince them we’re worth being left alive.”

“That’s an awfully heavy burden,” Ike says. “You shouldn’t have to justify being left alone.”

Reyson laughs, unable to help but reach out and touch Ike’s shoulder. “You’re horribly naïve even after everything.”

Ike’s brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

“It will never stop for us,” Reyson says. “Each generation we teach to love us will forget within the next one. The struggle to remain free of the oppression Beorc wish to exert upon us will be reborn each generation in some backwater town or in the quiet murmurings of the city streets. We will have to justify our humanity over and over again.”

“It can’t be that way forever,” Ike says. “One day, if you teach enough love and tolerance…”

He trails off and Reyson watches as the truth enters his eyes.

“All it takes is one small seed of hatred,” Reyson says. “I see it happen when I look into the hearts of Beorc and Laguz alike. One small bit of hatred can grow to eat away the entire whole and no matter your intentions, or the intentions of our allies, there will always be that small bit of hatred. And so we will have to continue to justify our existence, year after impossible year.”

“It makes it all seem like this is for nothing,” Ike says, and Reyson is shocked for the second time that night when he sees tears of frustration start to fill his eyes. “We’re fighting to bring peace back to Crimea, but it’s all temporary if what you say is true.”

“Yes, Ike it is,” Reyson says, urgency bleeding into his voice as he takes Ike’s hands in his own. “That despair caught me and kept me down for years and it wasn’t until meeting you that I realized I can’t let it. Yes, that cycle will always continue and yes, there will always be that hatred. My people will have to fight tooth and nail for every bit of freedom they have but if it means I save one person from experiencing what I did then it was worth it.”

Ike stares at him, rough fingers curling through Reyson’s. “You truly are stronger than anyone gives you credit for.”

“I appreciate the flattery but it isn’t needed,” Reyson says.

“I mean it,” Ike says. “You have such resolve even now. I don’t know if I’d be able to do what you’ve done, or commit to a future the way you have.”

“You underestimate yourself,” Reyson says. “I’ve told you the truth of this struggle, and you’ll press on tomorrow for Crimea, for Elincia, and for all the innocent people you can save along the way. And after…Ike, I can tell you are an ally I will be able to count on long into the future.”

“Couldn’t stop me if you tried,” Ike says with a smile. “If you’re committed to that fight, then I am too.”

Reyson closes his eyes and after a moment of hesitation, draws Ike into a hug. He never thought he’d see himself in this position even just a few months ago, embracing a Beorc with the promise of bringing as much peace as they could between their races. But then…Ike was an extraordinary man.

“Thank you for being with me tonight,” he murmurs.

Ike tightens his arms around him and Reyson smiles.


End file.
